In the related art, the information provided to a user by a navigation system when the navigated area is land has been the current position or course displayed in a map, instructions at intersections, and three-dimensional images, illustrations, etc. for giving greater visual interest. That is, systems have been developed in a direction away from the inherently required utility, safety, and quick response.
Navigation systems have been worked on for over 20 years in Japan, the U.S., and Europe as national development programs. The Japanese system, which is map based, however, requires for example the driver to read a map when using the system and therefore draws attention away from the road. This system is therefore being banned or restricted in Europe and the U.S. as being undesirable for traffic safety.
On the other hand, in the American and European guidance system, which provides instructions on the course by arrows or voice, has a high potential for causing accidents due to mistaken instructions. To reduce the rate of occurrence of accidents due to such misguidance, guidance is suspended on main roads. Therefore, the function inherently sought in such a system, that is, reaching a destination in a pinpoint manner, has to be foregone.
Current products are simply being used without these problems in the map system and guidance system being solved. They are therefore being marketed simply as novelties. Television programs, the newspapers and other mass media frequently carry reports about the dangers of use of these products claiming that there are problems in their safety.
Inherently, however, navigation is a key technology for realizing a road traffic system for eliminating congestion and controlling traffic. Further, it is a technology which cries for incorporation into mobile information devices—one side of the spectrum of information terminals, now polarizing between stationary units and mobile units—currently playing a central role as carriers of multimedia information in the midsts of society's information revolution, and should become a basic technology of the system.
The part of the conventional technology relating to hardware has already reached a considerable level of accuracy and sufficient practicality, but the software has not yet reached a practical level. Numerous problems remain.
In particular, when the navigated area is the city streets, utility, safety, quick response, and other factors become essential and have to be improved in order for navigation to be offered as a key technology in road traffic systems and multimedia systems.
Utility means duly reaching the destination when a destination is set. Safety means eliminating the problem of the extreme risk in traffic safety posed by drawing attention away from the road or misguidance. Quick response means incorporating sufficient dynamic information on accidents, congestion, the weather, etc. to smooth the flow of traffic. If these can be achieved, then navigation systems can play the role they were meant for.
This is the main object to be solved by the present invention.
A navigation system tailored to the specific type of the moving object, mission, and skill when the navigated area is the land, sea, or air is also necessary.